clintonhillbilly's Profile
Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate". What have you tried in L.A.?
Tried Samosa House the other day -- excellent samose pastry and fluffy vegetable filling. Up there with the best I've had, but I prefer a more heavily spiced filling. Also had some yummy banana curry.
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Samosa House
11510 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA
Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate". What have you tried in L.A.?
Yes, the bacon-wrapped matzoh balls at the Gorbals are really, really good. If you go try the latkes too.
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The Gorbals
501 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Golden Dragon Dim Sum - LA Chinatown
Good to know Ocean Seafood has vegan options! Do they have savory items that are vegetarian, or just the sweet pastries?
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Ocean Seafood Restaurant
747 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Golden Dragon Dim Sum - LA Chinatown
Do they have any vegetarian dim sum options? Their website doesn't seem to be working and I can't find a menu online. I'm always in search of dim sum to take my vegetarian wife to.
Sand Dabs
I got some sand dabs from the farmer's market the other day -- when I got him and they had a defrosted a bit I noticed they had a really fishy smell. I have always heard that fresh fish should not smell fishy. Are these old or bad? Or are sand dabs particularly smelly fish?
Best Pizza in Los Angeles (& surrounding)????!!
Just tried the new Garage Pizza downtown-- it's awesome. Crust is a little crisper than your typical NYC slice but you can still fold it. On 7th between Spring and Main.
Ex-Vegetarian, Need some must go restaurants
From one former vegetarian to another
-- Comme Ca on Melrose is excellent. I had amazingly succulent and tender pork ribs there. -
---Phillippe's french dip -- I recommend the double dipped pork sandwich.
--Get charcuterie at any good wine bar -- Mignon on 6th is a good one.
--Lazy Ox has a fabulous steak with marrow butter, and it's next door neighbor Aburiya Toranoko has really good sushi and sashimi, and excellent monfish liver pate.
--Don't miss out on amazing Mexican food -- Cacao in Eagle Rock has wild boar chorizo, filet mignon tacos, duck carnitas, and great fish and shrimp tacos. Tacos La Estrella truck parked at 56th and York in Highland Park has killer al pastor tacos. El Rey de Barbacoa at Adams and Hill is your weekend lunch spot of delicious tender shredded goat meat.
--Coffee rubbed pork tenderloin at Rivera downtown is delicious.
--Get your Creole/soul food fix at Harold and Belle's on Jefferson. Especially delicious clam chowder and fried chicken, but a good place to try po'boys and etouffe as well.
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Aburiya Toranoko
243 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate". What have you tried in L.A.?
OK, here's what I've tried:
1. Umami Burger -- the SoCal burger is my favorite burger, ever, period. There is no burger that is so juicy and delicious, and the SoCal has the good old melty american cheese and thousand island dressing to make it perfect. Umami Burger is definitely worth a drive.
2. Phillipe's French Dip -- I've been in love with the pork sandwich (double dipped) since I was a kid -- used to be a reward for me and my sister after flouride treatments from our dentist in Little Tokyo. Worth a drive. The macaroni salad, potato salad, and mustard are all must-haves too. Much better than its rival Cole's.
3. Slippery Shrimp at Yang Chow -- very good but really sweet. To me, not worth a long drive. Yang Chow does have another location in Canoga Park though if that's closer (or is it Woodland Hills?)
4. Korean Short Rib Tacos from Kogi's -- Yes, worth a drive to have them at least once. Personally I prefer going to the Alibi Room to get them to waiting outside in front of a truck. Alibi has a decent beer selection and there's some stuff on the Kogi menu there you can't get from the trucks. Personally I like the short rib sliders even better than the tacos, and the kimchee quesadilla is deliciously indulgent with some sort of red pepper aoili.
5. Half chicken with garlic sauce from Zankou -- Their garlic sauce is fantastic. Personally, I prefer the chicken tarna sandwich with double garlic sauce. It's worth a drive. That garlic sauce is unforgettable. The rotisserie chicken at Zankou is good but not the best ever, however, the tarna is done shawarma-style and spiced, super-tender.
6. I have not tried the chocolate-coconut cupcake but I want to give a shout out to the Oinkster's peanut butter and jelly cupcake, which is amazing. Like biting into your happiest childhood memory.
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Oinkster
2005 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Alibi Room
12236 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066
Yang Chow
6443 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91303
Kogi
Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles, CA
Umami Burger
850 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Little Tokyo Restaurant
150 E Bonita Ave, San Dimas, CA 91773
Canoga Cafe
6200 Canoga Ave, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Best Pizza in Los Angeles (& surrounding)????!!
9th St. Pizza at 9th and Santee is true NY Pizza (I lived in NYC for 5 years).
Best tiramisu in LA from a restaurant (no chains)?
Portofino's downtown at 5th and Main has an excellent tiramisu.
Inexpensive wedding catering?
Thank you for all of the suggestions. We ended up going with Cacao Mexicatessen (in Eagle Rock) and we were super-happy with their food and their service. We had tilapia ceviche, grilled pineapple ceviche, quesadillas with Oaxacan cheese, fish tacos, carne asada tacos, flor de jamaica tacos, tofu mole tacos, chile rellenos, cucumber gazpacho, aguas frescas and hot chocolate. All sustainable seafood & Niman Ranch meat, tacos made to order on handmade tortillas. It came out to less than $40/pp!
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Mexicatessen
830 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754
the best SANDWICH in (Los Angeles) period.
Porto's Pan Lechon (roast pork & garlic sauce on fresh baked bread)
Zankou Chicken Tarna Sandwich, extra garlic sauce
Dan's Super Subs in Woodland Hills
Philippe's of course, I like the pork personally
Oinkster pulled pork w/ coleslaw
Umami burger for vegetarian burger or meat burger
Cheap Wine Bar?
We just moved here from Brooklyn and we miss wine bars with $5 glasses. There's gotta be someplace in LA that's not $9 or $10 a glass. We'd love to find a place with inexpensive tapas too. We live on the Eastside but suggestions from all over are welcome!
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Wine Bar
6801 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Inexpensive wedding catering?
Thank you for all the suggestions. We love Greek food and through an internet search stumbled upon Cafe Graikos in Northridge. We went there for dinner and it was delicious, and the catering prices are among the cheapest I've seen. Hopefully it will be the one -- we're going to go again for dinner & sample some more things. If you go, definitely try the falafel and the karydi. I'd never had karydi before - it's dip w/ tahini, walnuts, pepper paste, and pomegranate syrup and it is delicious!
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Cafe Graikos
19346 Rinaldi St, Northridge, CA 91326
Inexpensive wedding catering?
Hi there chowhounds. My partner and I are getting married at a site in Malibu and we're looking to feed about 120 people something yummy for $40/pp, inclusive of tax & staffing. Any suggestions? We are open to all types of cuisine and we are providing our own alochol.
Tequila Infusions? (ISO cheap white tequila)
Sauza blanco is perfect for a couple steps up from cuervo but not nearly as expensive as herradura. I infused tequila w/ habanero once but cutting a habanero pepper in half and putting half a pepper in a bottle of tequila blanco. 24 hours later I tasted it and it was already super hot! I was afraid to leave the habanero in any longer and took it out, but it made great margaritas. Probably you could leave it in longer if you put a pepper in whole. I also went to a bar a few times that made a drink with lavender infused tequila that was terrific.
